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Tantilla planiceps (BLAINVILLE, 1835)

IUCN Red List - Tantilla planiceps - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Western Blackhead Snake
G: Westliche Schwarzkopfschlange
S: Culebra Cabeza Negra Occidental 
SynonymColuber planiceps BLAINVILLE 1835: 294
Homalocranion planiceps — DUMÉRIL 1853: 490
Tantilla planiceps — COPE 1861: 74
Homalocranion planiceps — JAN 1866
Tantilla planiceps — GARMAN 1884: 89
Tantilla planiceps — VAN DENBURGH 1895: 140
Homalocranium planiceps — GÜNTHER 1895: 145.
Tantilla eiseni STEJNEGER "1895" (1896): 117
Homalocranium planiceps — MOCQUARD 1899: 316
Tantilla eiseni — KLAUBER 1928
Tantilla eiseni — TAYLOR 1937
Tantilla eiseni — BLANCHARD 1938
Tantilla planiceps — BLANCHARD 1938
Tantilla eiseni transmontana KLAUBER 1943: 71
Tantilla planiceps — SMITH & TAYLOR 1945: 141
Tantilla planiceps eiseni — TANNER 1966: 134
Tantilla planiceps transmontanta — TANNER 1966: 134
Tantilla eiseni transmontana — LOOMIS & STEPHENS 1967
Tantilla planiceps — SEIB 1980
Tantilla planiceps — STEBBINS 1985: 217
Tantilla planiceps — LINER 1994
Tantilla planiceps — ERNST & ERNST 2003: 355
Tantilla planiceps — LINER 2007
Tantilla planiceps — WILSON & MATA-SILVA 2014: 44
Tantilla planiceps — WALLACH et al. 2014: 704 
DistributionUSA (California),
Mexico (Baja California)

Elevation: 0-1220 m (WILSON & MATA-SILVA 2014)

Type locality: California (including Baja California), restricted to southern Baja California del Sur (Cabo San Lucas) by Smith and Taylor (1950); restriction accepted by Cole and Hardy (1981).  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA 818, adult male, collected in 1827-1829 by M. P. E. Botta.
Holotype: SDNHM = SDSNH [Tantilla eiseni transmontana]
Holotype: USNM 11766 [Tantilla eiseni] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (3531 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
Comment 
EtymologyThe name planiceps is derived from the Latin words planus, meaning “even, flat, or level” and caput, meaning “head,” in reference to the flat crown. 
References
  • ALVAREZ, JEFF A. 2022. TANTILLA PLANICEPS (Western Black-headed Snake). DIET. Herpetological Review 53 (3): 522.
  • Blainville, Henri Marie Ducrotay de 1835. Description de quelques espèces de reptiles de la Californie précédée de l’analyse d’un système général d’erpétologie et d’amphibiologie. Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 4: 233-296 - get paper here
  • Blanchard, Frank N. 1938. Snakes of the genus Tantilla in the United States. Zoological Series of Field Museum of Natural History 20 (28): 369-376 - get paper here
  • Cole, Charles J. and Laurence M. Hardy 1983. Tantilla planiceps. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles. (319): 1-2 - get paper here
  • Cole, Charles J.; Hardy, Laurence M. 1981. Systematics of North American colubrid snakes related to Tantilla planiceps (Blainville). Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 171 (3): 199-284 - get paper here
  • Crother, B. I. (ed.) 2012. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians, Seventh Edition. Herpetological Circular 39: 1-92
  • Dury, R. 1932. Recent Acquisitions to the Department of Herpetology. Proc. Jr. Soc. Nat. Hist. Cincinnati 3 (2): 26-28
  • Garman, Samuel 1884. The reptiles and batrachians of North America. Mem. Mus. comp. Zool, Cambridge (Massachusetts), 8 (3): xxxiv + 185 pp. [1883] [CNAH reprint 10] - get paper here
  • Goldberg, Stephen R. 2017. Tantilla planiceps (Western Black-headed Snake) Reproduction. Herpetological Review 48 (1): 220 - get paper here
  • Heimes, P. 2016. Snakes of Mexico. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 572 pp
  • Jan, G. 1866. Iconographie générale des ophidiens. 15. Livraison. J.B. Bailière et Fils, Paris - get paper here
  • Klauber, L. M. 1928. A list of amphibians and reptiles of San Diego County, California. Zoological Society of San Diego (Bulletin #4): 1-8 - get paper here
  • Klauber, Laurence M. 1943. A desert subspecies of the snake Tantilla eiseni. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 10 (5): 71-74 - get paper here
  • Leviton, Alan E.; Banta, Benjamin H. 1964. Midwinter reconnaissance of the herpetofauna of the Cape Region of Baja California, Mexico. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 30 (7): 127-156 - get paper here
  • Liner, Ernest A. 2007. A CHECKLIST OF THE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF MEXICO. Louisiana State University Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural Science 80: 1-60 - get paper here
  • Loomis, Richard B.;Stephens, Robert C. 1967. Additional notes on snakes taken in or near Joshua Tree National Monument, California. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 66 (1): 1-22 - get paper here
  • Mocquard, M.F. 1899. Contribution a la faune herpétologique de la Basse-Californie. Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Natur.Paris, 4th Series, Vol. 1: 297-343 + plates XI-XIII - get paper here
  • Peralta-García A, Valdez-Villavicencio JH, Fucsko LA, Hollingsworth BD, Johnson JD, Mata-Silva V, Rocha A, DeSantis DL, Porras LW, and Wilson LD. 2023. The herpetofauna of the Baja California Peninsula and its adjacent islands, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 17(1&2): 57–142
  • Pregill, Gregory K.;Berrian, James E. 1984. Type specimens of amphibians and reptiles in the San Diego Natural History Museum. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 20 (10): 151-164 - get paper here
  • Seib, R. L. 1980. Baja California: A Peninsula for Rodents But Not for Reptiles. [reply to Taylor & Regal 1978] American Naturalist 115(4): 613–620 - get paper here
  • Stebbins,R.C. 1985. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
  • Stejneger, Leonard 1896. Description of a new species of snake (Tantilla eiseni) from California. Proc. U.S. Natl. Mus. 18: 117-118 (1895) - get paper here
  • Taylor, Edward H. 1937. Notes and comments on certain American and Mexican snakes of the genus Tantilla, with descriptions of new species. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 39 [1936]: 335-348 - get paper here
  • Van Denburgh,J. 1895. A review of the herpetology of Lower California. Part I - Reptiles. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. (2) 5: 77-163 - get paper here
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Wilson, Larry David and Vicente Mata-Silva 2015. A checklist and key to the snakes of the Tantilla clade (Squamata: Colubridae), with comments on distribution and conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2 (4): 418 - get paper here
  • Wilson, Larry David and Vicente Mata-Silva. 2014. Snakes of the genus Tantilla (Squamata: Colubridae) in Mexico: taxonomy, distribution, and Conservation. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1 (1): 5-95 - get paper here
 
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